Empowering schools in Fiji

Empowering schools in Fiji with PV systems

The Its Time Foundation continues its noble mission building solar systems for schools in Fiji and aspires to a massive scaling up of operations for the good of one and all.

THE PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM of early July saw a rallying cry by Islanders for Australia to lift its game on climate action. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was on hand to agree to the far-reaching 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, a blueprint for a smarter future. And, in the short time she has been Foreign Affairs Minister, Penny Wong has already staged several trips to the Pacific region to spread goodwill and confidence in Australia’s actions hereon.

Her commendable efforts are preceded however by one Australian businessman who for more than a decade has made a material difference to the lives of Fijian islanders by installing climate-friendly solar PV systems at numerous schools.

The efforts driven by Its Time founder Rob Edwards are delivering numerous benefits, dispensing with the need for costly, noisy, polluting diesel generators, educating the next generation of Fijians on the merits of renewable energy, and boosting their lifetime opportunities and wealth creation through improved education.

During the undertaking Rob’s been challenged by the odd ‘100 year’ cyclone wiping out solar systems and bricks-and-mortar schools, and weathered challenges brought on by the tyranny of distance involved in sourcing and shipping supplies from points across the US and Australia to an island so remote it sits on the edge of the international date line.

Added to that are the additional difficulties of travelling to and within remote regions, occasional failed internet connections, shortages of vital components, faulty parts and heck, a case or two or debilitating food poisoning to boot!

There’s more: the onset of COVID in 2020 not only hampered progress for a couple of years but also landed at a critical time when Its Time was on the cusp of securing a large sponsor that could have fast tracked tens of projects.

Rob, who puts on hold his day job as a motivational speaker to manage Its Time, finds the mental fortitude to take each setback on the chin, to persevere and build systems one by one.

June 2022 marked the completion of the 24th solar system.

Thanks to Its Time foundation, Bananban school on the Fijian island of Rabi gets a makeover with a 5.5kW solar power system, much to the delight of the local community

Littering the otherwise glittering Pacific

Pacific Islanders are watching with alarm as sea levels rise and storm activity rages in the region. That’s only part of their concern.

There’s also the deeply problematic build-up of plastics waste in the ocean. Plastic pollution riles Rob, who now encourages Fijian school kids to spend 20 minutes a week trawling beaches for plastic waste. The size of their waste piles, and all the implications for aquatic wildlife, is alarming and confronting.

Rob’s combined his broader environmental concerns with his motivational skills to develop a similar plastics waste collection program in Sri Lanka. So successful is the self-sustaining model that many impoverished locals are now eking out a living from plastic waste collections in the bankrupt island nation.

The solar installation at the Bananban school on the Fijian island of Rabi (pronounced Rambi) involved flights from Sydney to Nadi, then on to Suva to link up with local installation partner CBS Power Solutions, stock checking of all equipment and loading it into a truck for a trip to Suva port.

There followed a 16-hour ferry trip, a three-hour four-wheel drive on a bumpy dirt road, the loading of equipment onto six metre outboard boats and a one-hour sea crossing to the village itself.

Only on arrival to find a wrong component had been supplied in one of the boxes.

A right Pacific problem! Banding together

“Yet responses to such misfortunes invariably highlight the strength and spirit of Islander communities whose coconut telegraph works rather brilliantly,” Rob said.

“That setback was resolved in quick time. It involved a call to Suva where CBS arranged the correct part and got it to Suva airport where it was put on a small plane bound for a larger island near Rabi.

“From there, it was put a local bus and dropped off at a village three hours up the road. Next morning, we sent the outboard to pick it up.

“After a while you get to understand how everything works and how problems always get resolved.

“This is one of the joys of working in the region,” Rob said. “Islanders band together well to help out, especially when they recognise the longterm benefits it will bring to their communities.”

Solar installations also invariably involve joint efforts by local villagers who get involved digging foundations for the ground-mounted solar arrays, however Its Time engages qualified electricians employed by Suva-based CBS Power Solutions for all technical operations.

“Of course, local knowledge is vital, as is the triangular relationship built between the school, CBS and Its Time for future system maintenance,” Rob explained.

“Even when we secure hoped for big funding for projects I’d retain that model of engaging the village community. Locals gain immense pride in ownership of the system installations. They really appreciate what we can do and that they can be a contributor is disproportionately cool.

“We are all great mates by the end of the project. It is gold.”

The work is underpinned thanks to the generous support of equipment and financial supporters (iitime.org/supporters).

A group of CWP Global shareholders brought together by Michael Vawser was the lead sponsor of the recent Banaban School project.

Great potential

The delivery systems, local and international relationships are sound and enduring, the model well honed, but there’s the ongoing and often demoralising challenge of fund raising, especially when it comes to meeting the costs of maintenance and repairs on existing systems.

Its Time is pinning hopes on the generous support of business partners and the proceeds of a raffle for an all-expenses five-night stay at a luxe Fijian resort to fund more systems.

“But there will be a point where I say we don’t have the funding structure in place to properly scale and that will be very frustrating given the number of schools in Fiji still running on diesel power or which have no power at all,” Rob lamented. 160, to be precise.

“I’m at a stage now where Its Time operations need to scale up. It’s a no brainer. We have a decade of history under our belt with all the relationships in place, all the resources too,” Rob told Smart Energy.

“In each region we could transform five or ten schools, not just one or two at a time. Boost education levels and quality of life, provide kids with much greater opportunities. It’s a ‘just add money scenario’.

“Repeat that on all islands. It would be relatively easy to do.”

Rob is appealing to the federal government ministers who are leading Australia’s efforts and objectives in the Pacific to contribute to the schools’ transformation.

The message, he says, is compelling: Kids. Education. Emissions Reduction. Pacific Islands.

Updating the energy systems of all the remote schools in Fiji to be powered by solar PV would not be too expensive. The money and carbon emissions saved by ditching diesel is a bonus on top of giving generations of kids the fair chance of a modern education like their urban peers, Rob said.

“It’s great story for Australia-Pacific relations and at a critical time in world history.”

He’ll keep pressing government to recognise the merits of building solar systems on schools in the Pacific to replace climate wrecking fossil fuel diesel generators that are at odds with Islanders’ aspirations, Australia’s too.

But no time to dwell.

Thanks to lead financial sponsor Clenergy and other supporters another noisy generator will be silenced in September when Its Time undertakes its biggest project to date: an 18kW system at a school on the Fiji island of Taveuni housing 800 students. www.iitime.org